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APRIL 19 VHS MOVIE REVIEW : SAVAGE JUSTICE (1988)
Here's a Filipino actioner that actually received a U.S. DVD release, even if it's only on a budget label. Some unnamed Far East country goes into revolution mode, forcing all Americans, including Ambassador Allan Howard (Ken Metcalfe; THE WOMAN HUNT - 1972), his wife Margaret (Liz Shepherd) and daughter Sarah (Julia Montgomery; GIRLS NITE OUT - 1983) to flee the U.S. Embassy in a hurry. Sarah, who is dressed in Army fatigues, rides in the back of her father's car as they are given a military escort to the airport, when, suddenly, their convoy is attacked by the revolutionaries and everyone is killed except Sarah, who is captured and taken prisoner. Sanchez (Raul Vernal; MUSLIM MAGNUM .357 - 1986), the leader of the revolutionaries, takes an instant shine to Sarah and makes her his bitch (even branding her with his mark!). One year later, rice farmer (and ex-Special Forces soldier) Rick (Steven Memel) lives a peaceful life with his wife An Lee (Millicent Bautista), working in the rice fields and enjoying his life. The town doctor (Anthony East; THE SISTERHOOD - 1987) informs Rick that Sanchez intends to raid the village and wants Rick to use his military experience to train the villagers to defend himself, but the now-pacifistic Rick refuses. That will soon change. Sanchez and his goons, which now includes a fully converted and battle-trained Sarah, invade the village (they arrive in cars and motorcycles that look like hand-me-downs from one of Cirio H. Santiago's post-nuke films) and shoot-up the village marketplace. A series of events occur where Angelica (Chanda Romero), Santiago's second-in-command, viciously runs over An Lee, killing her, and then jealously shoots Sarah, leaving her for dead in the village square. Rich arrives at the village too late, finds his wife's bloody and broken body and vows revenge. A wounded Sarah comes stumbling through town and is recognized by her old Embassy housekeeper Sun Lee (Esther Chavez), who nurses Sarah back to health. Rick reluctantly agrees to partner-up with Sarah to bring Sanchez down, but the question soon becomes: Is Sarah doing this to avenge for the deaths of her parents or does she want to get even with Angelica for making her past year a hell on Earth? While Sarah leads five martial monks on a mission to receive a secret arms cache, Rick trains the villagers for combat and waits for Sanchez's eventual return. Can Sarah return with the weapons before Sanchez arrives? Will Sarah teach bitch Angelica a lesson she will never forget? What do you think? This is a stunt-filled and explosion-heavy actioner, that, unfortunately, wears too much of it's heart on it's sleeve. Director Joey Romero, the son of Filipino exploitation legend Eddie Romero (BEAST OF THE YELLOW NIGHT - 1971; SAVAGE SISTERS - 1974), displays too much sappy sentimentalism, as the screenplay, by David Howard and Parker Bratel, force-feeds the viewers plenty of pacifist dialogue (We get it. War is bad. Peace is good.) and pseudo-intellectual fortune cookie parables. All is not lost, though. There's some strange shit on view here, such as when Sarah and the five monks have a run-in with a gang that lives on an abandoned ship. The gang's leader, a dwarf (played by Rey Big Boy, a familiar face in countless Filipino post-nuke and action films, who, for once, actually gets a screen credit), makes Sarah fight his best man in a one-on-one match-up, which she easily wins. Sarah and the dwarf (who is dressed nattily in a three-piece suit!) then become friends and some of his gang join Sarah in her cause. As Sarah, the monks and her new friends leave in a boat, the dwarf and his followers can be heard yelling "Hey diddle-diddle!" over and over in some victory chant. I haven't got a clue what it means, but it's weird as hell. There's also some pretty good stunts (including a nice slow-motion jump off a waterfalls by Sarah and Rick), bloody deaths (with plenty of bullet squibs), numerous gunfights and plenty of explosions but, strangely, no nudity, although the film does come close when Angelica sexually assaults Sarah during a torture session in the beginning when she is captured. I guess your level of enjoyment here depends on your tolerance for schmaltz. Also starring Hero Bautista, Willie Williams, Carl Morris, Frank Campbell and blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameos by David Giberson (JUST A DAMNED SOLDIER - 1988) and Filipino staple Henry Strzalkowski. Available in a decent-looking fullscreen print from budget label Platinum Disc Corporation. Not Rated. { text from critcononline.com }
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